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As the K‑food craze sweeps the globe, Korea’s iconic street snack tteokbokki is catching fire overseas in a new form: the “spicy challenge.”
On the 27th, social media feeds were full of videos showing foreigners daring to try spicy Korean tteokbokki and capturing their reactions. Many frame it as a “must-try” dish for anyone visiting Korea, and those clips are getting tons of attention.
Participants move through heat levels—from a milder version with less gochujang to an “extreme” variety laced with capsaicin—and post the whole experience online.
Videos of people tearing up and breaking into a sweat as they bite into rice cakes smothered in fiery sauce are racking up millions of views. Creators often suggest adding cheese to mellow the burn and make the dish more delicious.
Tteokbokki has cemented itself as one of the top picks among international visitors.
A recent survey found tteokbokki topped foreign visitors’ food choices in Seoul, at 13.8%.
Beating out familiar staples like kimchi and bulgogi, the result points to the convenience and crowd-pleasing charm of street food.
K‑dramas and variety programs have played a big role in turning spicy tteokbokki into a global curiosity.
On-screen moments of characters enjoying tteokbokki at snack stalls and on the street sparked interest among international viewers, helping cement its status as a travel essential.
Its versatility—swapping gochujang for jjajang, or reinventing it as “cheese tteokbokki” or “rose tteokbokki”—along with wallet-friendly prices, also makes it appealing to tourists.
The trend shows up in export numbers: the Korea International Trade Association reported that last year exports of rice-processed products, a key tteokbokki ingredient, hit $145,950,000 (47,333 t), a record high.
Along with the spicy trend, exports of sauces used in K‑snack foods such as tteokbokki rose as well—totaling $411,000,000 last year, up 4.6% from the year before.
A tourism official said social media and dramas have helped popularize tteokbokki as a way to experience Korea’s distinctive spicy flavors. They added that the ritual of testing the heat and posting proof online has become entertainment in its own right, so they expect the craze to continue.
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